DUBLIN, Ireland — When TV3 launched in 1998 it became Ireland’s first commercial broadcaster. Today, it remains the country’s only commercial station, operating three platforms—TV3, 3e, and TV3.ie—and enjoys around 25 percent of overall viewership. TV3 presently has two fully functioning studios with two more currently being built—and it was to equip its new 5,000-square-foot HD studio, which will be used mainly for light entertainment and factual entertainment shows, that the broadcaster recently purchased a 42-fader HARMAN Studer Vista 5 M2 along with four Vi Compact Stageboxes.
The M2 upgrade to the popular Vista 5 provides the addition of TFT metering; this is capable of displaying signal levels from mono through to 5.1 channels on each input, with a user-configurable lower area.
The station opted to invest in Studer technology for the first time, based on both price and facilities — and in particular the 32/16 fibre stage boxes, according to Jose de Freitas, CTO at TV3, and Simon Dowling, Head of Engineering. But their decision was made only after they had reviewed a number of alternative console options.
Sound engineer John Mullen explains that the Vista 5M2 will initially be deployed for all recordings and live shows in the HD studio. “It has already featured on a late political panellist series, a light entertainment series and as a ‘front-of-house’ desk when the studio is used as a live venue.” Aside from its use both with and without audiences the desk is currently deployed on a 10-part factual entertainment series.
Mullen believes that the desk has represented a wise investment, and that it has the potential to improve workflow as the studio network develops. Meanwhile, the next phase will be to have all technicians—both in-house and freelance—fully operator trained.
“There are many features we like about this desk,” he concludes. “Among them are the DSP Calculator; the General Patch Matrix, for its ease of use and visibility; the GEQ, which is great for creating monitoring/PA mixes;the meter bridge, both for its visisibility and flexibility in configuration; the Monitor Selector/File, for the quantity and flexibility of sources and the N-X [mix minus] Bus — again for its ease of use and flexibility.”
HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 14,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.3 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013.
